Students wearing hijab sent to separate classrooms, Karnataka education minister defends move

The College Development Committee spokesperson Mohan Das Shenoy stated that Muslim students who are agitating outside would be allowed inside the college premises and given a separate room. However, they won't be allowed to attend classes until they remove the hijab as per the government order.

Udupi: Karnataka High Court is set to hear the case concerning the hijab row on Tuesday even as some colleges have either stopped the Hijab-clad students from entering the institutes or have made them sit in separate classrooms.

Despite the state government's order banning both hijab and saffron shawls from educational institutions, several colleges across the state's districts witnessed students wearing hijab demanding to be allowed to attend classes. The issue has started to divide the student fraternity with many saffron shawl wearing students protesting against their Hijab-wearing counterparts.

What started in a Udupi college where just one principal had a problem with hijab-wearing students have now escalated into a national political issue. "Our parents told us not to remove hijab, so we won't remove it. We will wait till the court verdict which will come on Tuesday," said one of the students. Wearing Hijab, she said, was their 'fundamental right'. A few days back, the leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah spoke in support of the students and called the state government's decision to ban hijabs "unconstitutional".

While most colleges did not allow hijab-wearing students to enter the college, some, like the Government PU College in Kundapur allowed them to enter the premises but controversially made the Hijabi students sit in a separate classroom without any lessons. The College Development Committee spokesperson Mohan Das Shenoy stated that Muslim students who are agitating outside would be allowed inside the college premises and given a separate room. However, they won't be allowed to attend classes until they remove the hijab as per the government order.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Education Minister B C Nagesh today urged both the students not to get provoked and follow government orders regarding the ongoing row. Addressing the media, Bommai, who is currently in Delhi, said all the students must follow the state government order issued regarding uniforms. The students must not make any attempts to disturb peace, he added.

"The court order is coming tomorrow (Tuesday). The state government will take a decision on the issue once the order comes. As the case is before the court I don't want to speak about it," he said.

READ:Karnataka bans clothes that disturb harmony, public order

He further said that there were forces active behind stirring up the hijab row in the state, as it had earlier surfaced in Kerala and Maharashtra. Meanwhile, Nagesh told reporters in Mysuru: "The students must come wearing uniforms to the colleges. Students wearing hijabs and saffron shawls will not be permitted to enter. It's your wish that until you reach college entrance you can wear clothes of your choice. Once you come inside the gate, you have to be in uniform."

The state education minister defended the measure of sending hijab-wearing students to separate rooms in the Udupi Government PU College, adding that the government will frame rules on uniform after the order from the High Court. The hijab row has now spread across the states, including in Chikkaballapur, Chikkamagalur, Hassan, Mandya, Vijayapura. It has affected academic activity in seven colleges in Udupi alone, while also spreading to Bommai's native district of Haveri.

Meanwhile, the row took a new turn when students of IDSG College in Chikkamaglur district came in blue shawls in support of the hijab-wearing Muslim students. They raised 'Jai Bheem' slogans and condemned the communalization of education. After declaring a holiday at the Shanteshwar PUC College and GRB Colleges in Vijayapura, the saffron shawl wearing students gathered in front of the entrance gates and raised the slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram'.

READ:Karnataka: Two carrying 'lethal weapons' arrested from hijab protest site